Keep an Eye Out for Cereal Leaf Beetle Larvae

May 22, 2024

Cereal leaf beetle (CLB) adults have been active and laying eggs over the last month in winter cereals. Though the adult feeding does not cause much injury, expect to start seeing larvae and their leaf feeding start over the next few weeks. My crew just found a few first instar CLB larvae today in one of the YEN sites we are monitoring this year. On the positive side, with this heat, the winter cereals are advancing quickly and may get passed the critical early heading stages, avoiding peak larval feeding. But spring cereals might be at greater risk.

Cereal leaf beetle larvae are 6 mm (1/4 in.) in length when mature and yellowish in colour, but this colour is hidden by a black deposit of their fecal material making it slug-like in appearance. This creates a dome around them, keeping them moist in dry conditions while protecting them from predators. When this outer coating is removed, you will find a yellowish beige larva underneath with a brown head and three pairs of small brown legs at the front of the body.

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Video: A chain harrow is a game changer

Utilizing a rotational grazing method on our farmstead with our sheep helps to let the pasture/paddocks rest. We also just invested in a chain harrow to allow us to drag the paddocks our sheep just left to break up and spread their manure around, dethatch thicker grass areas, and to rough up bare dirt areas to all for a better seed to soil contact if we overseed that paddock. This was our first time really using the chain harrow besides initially testing it out. We are very impressed with the work it did and how and area that was majority dirt, could be roughed up before reseeding.

Did you know we also operate a small business on the homestead. We make homemade, handcrafted soaps, shampoo bars, hair and beard products in addition to offering our pasture raised pork, lamb, and 100% raw honey. You can find out more about our products and ingredients by visiting our website at www.mimiandpoppysplace.com. There you can shop our products and sign up for our monthly newsletter that highlights a soap or ingredient, gives monthly updates about the homestead, and also lists the markets, festivals, and events we’ll be attending that month.